


Salt

by FrostonMaples



Category: The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Angst, Emotional Hurt/Comfort
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-05-16
Updated: 2014-05-16
Packaged: 2018-01-25 01:08:26
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,941
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1623518
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/FrostonMaples/pseuds/FrostonMaples
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Rub salt in the wound: To make an injury feel worse. In the early days with the team, Stark unwittingly sticks his foot in it.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Salt

**Author's Note:**

> This is a standalone story, but it does loosely tie in with my other Avengers pieces, and is a follow-up to Sons of Hamsters and Minions of Unusual Numbers. I am operating under the assumption that the Avengers do not know that Coulson survived the events of the movie (it was made clear that Thor doesn't know in AoS, I will assume the rest are at about the same security level), and won't know until it is specifically mentioned in either a movie or on Agents of SHIELD. It was most definitely written and posted on FFN before Captain America: The Winter Soldier.

 

XXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Their first mission debriefing as a team started off smoothly. Fury and Hill listened as Rogers and Thor recounted the strategy used to send the invading creatures back through the interdimensional portal some SHIELD scientists had discovered. Romanoff and Barton confirmed that regular guns were able to damage and/or eliminate the aliens that had refused to go back, and yes, they had bled blue goo. ****

"An interesting thing about the portal is that it was accidentally caused by research being done at a previously unknown Hydra base," Barton said.

"Hydra? Are you sure?" Hill asked, leaning forward. "We've had no reports of activity from them in that area for years."

"According to some files Stark downloaded, it was a new, small project. Things didn't go as planned and voila, a portal," Romanoff replied. "I'd say the Hydra agents were as surprised as anyone when the aliens started popping out of the bright light."

Fury turned to Tony. "So. What did you find?"

"There were some interesting details in the blueprints I downloaded from the Hydra database," Tony said. He set his phone on the table and tapped it to project images. "When I looked closely at the schematics, something seemed familiar. Fortunately, the files I downloaded before they blew everything up included the very interesting research notes from Hydra Researcher 237, the snakey guy who was the head researcher of this project." He flipped through a dizzying blur of information until he found what he wanted. 

"Check this out." He pointed, sighed at the blank looks directed at him and pointed again for emphasis. "All of this was springboarded from SHIELD tech."

Fury leaned forward. "Are you serious?"

Tony nodded. "Definitely. According to this..." his voice trailed off as he searched for something. "Ah, there it is." He 'grabbed' a file and enlarged it so all could see it easily. "It looks like about five or six years ago an Agent Knight was a very naughty agent, stole research by a SHIELD scientist named Dr. Lewis, and sold it to Hydra." He paused and looked at Fury and Hill. "I assume that Agent Knight is no longer on the SHIELD Christmas card list?" He didn't notice Hill's cold tension or Fury's flat non-expression. He also missed how Romanoff flicked a quick glance at her partner as Barton stopped doodling.

"Agent Knight was dealt with," Hill said, frowning. "We never knew who all of his buyers were."

"I guess we found one for you," Tony shrugged. "Anyhow, Dr. Lewis' work was on a new style of explosives: Hydra Researcher 237 played with it and found lots of different uses for his formulas, sort of like using a recipe for brownies to develop a new plastic. This guy would never have come up with something brilliant on his own, like, say, an arc reactor, but in his own way he was clever: the type of low-brow scientist that uses other people's ground-breaking work for something banal, like make a better mousetrap." Reluctant admiration flicked across his face. "There's major, _interesting_ , potential for this type of material, even in the hands of the mediocre. Unfortunately, Hydra Researcher 237 was blown up with the Hydra database and I don't like ouija boards, so instead I would like to talk with Dr. Lewis and compare this to his current work…"

"That won't be possible," Fury interrupted. "When Agent Knight... left, he destroyed the facility where Dr. Lewis was working, and killed Dr. Lewis."

"Oh." Tony looked chagrined and disappointed. "Then these are the only copies of Dr. Lewis' work?" Fury nodded confirmation. "A shame. There's some fascinating stuff here." He frowned at the projection. "There's handwritten stuff scanned in here, not just computer work. It looks like he worked alone mostly, but here - and here - there's notes from another person in the margins. _This_ is someone who does some serious outside the box thinking: some of the stuff won't work, but I like the style. Maybe I could talk to him?" He flipped through a few more 'pages'. "Aha. The name of the mystery person is Agent Duclos. A field agent? This guy should be in the lab..."

Steve noticed the sudden increase in tension first - Hill's expression became positively glacial, and Fury was tense as he quickly flicked a glance at Barton. Barton, he suddenly realized, was completely rigid, his face a cold neutral mask, and Romanoff was watching her partner like he was about to explode. 

Steve nudged Bruce, and gestured with a lift of his chin and a _look_. Bruce, startled, leaned forward to interrupt Tony, saying, "We should study this before we start consulting with people. Lots of notes to look at -"

Steve followed up on Bruce's intervention with, "Dr. Banner has the right idea - we can call another meeting later, after you've had time to analyze this."

Unfortunately, Tony was completely focused on the projections and the intriguing formulas within. "But this is good stuff. If we could work on this, and talk to the right people, we could maybe get a jump on other things Hydra has used it for..." 

"Later, Stark," Thor said, catching on to the situation. He leaned over to tap the phone, unfortunately cracking the screen as he turned it off.

"What do you think you're doing?" Tony snapped. "Don't touch my stuff. I don't care where you come from, that's rude!"

"Continue this another time," Thor said firmly. 

"But this could be important," Tony said, still oblivious to the distress he was causing. Turning to Fury, he said, "This guy should be researching, not running around getting shot at. If you would arrange for me to meet with this Agent Duclos…"

Barton abruptly jumped to his feet and stalked from the room. Tony paused, confused. "Did a secret ninja signal go off-" he started.

The words died in his throat as Romanoff also got to her feet. She eyed him darkly, and something cold crawled down his spine - this wasn't Natasha, or even Agent Romanoff. This was the killer named Black Widow considering potential prey. Absolute silence reigned as everyone froze. 

"Agent Romanoff." Fury didn't flinch as she turned to him. Compassion lined his face, and his voice, while not gentle, lacked its usual brusque attitude. "You and Agent Barton are to report to Agent Hill in one hour for a briefing on your next assignment." She stared into his face for a minute, the bleak darkness gradually fading away. Eventually, she nodded her acceptance of the order and left the room without a word.

Tony swallowed, suddenly realizing his mouth had gone dry. Steve, Bruce and Thor shifted uneasily, wanting to be gone from the scene of barely averted disaster. Hill looked shaken as she turned to Fury. "Sir..?"

Fury sighed, looking tired. "Hill, give them the Lima surveillance. Prepare the file." He glared at the rest of the team. "Gentlemen, that will be all." His tone brooked no arguments. "You know the way out."

 

XXXXXXXXXXXXXX

 

"Are you sure about this? When you hacked into the SHIELD systems on the helicarrier, it wasn't very good for your relationship with them." Bruce fidgeted as he watched Tony work.

"It's four in the morning. The cybersecurity people who are on the graveyard shift are probably just juniors who couldn't possibly catch up to me." Tony sifted carefully through files, dodging the obvious traps with ease. "Besides, I'm only going into the archives and personnel files. It's not like I'm trying to access weapons systems or base locations." He tapped on a few files, and crowed his satisfaction. "See? Dr. Lewis's file is in the archives  - not important, downloading is not a problem. Personnel files are taking a bit longer, but should still only be a couple of minutes." He sipped his cold coffee with a grimace.

The image of the data vanished to a view of Fury from a webcam in his office. The man scowled at them. "It's four am. Enough of the hacking. Get the hell out of the archives and go the fuck to sleep." The image on monitor abruptly turned to static as the connection to SHIELD vanished.

"Well, that's awkward," Tony sighed. He checked the downloaded data. "The files aren't complete - there's big chunks of data missing. Now I'll have to find another back door into the system." 

"If they woke him up because of you, I'd say you got off lightly," Bruce said. 

"You better have gotten what you were looking for." Coffees appeared at their elbows and they both turned to see Pepper scowling at them. 

"Pepper! Why are you up at this hour?" Tony asked apprehensively. "Not that we don't appreciate your radiant tousled bed-head. You totally own the tousled look-"

"I suspect that one of Director Fury's minions 'accidentally' hacked into my phone first before they got him up to deal directly with you," Pepper growled. "If I've been woken up for this, you better have the Lewis and Duclos files." 

"You knew about this?" Bruce asked, shocked.

"I _knew_ nothing about Tony's work tonight. You know how often he works late in the lab." For a brief moment, Pepper looked angelically innocent as she shrugged. "However, I did let Tony know that I would be very glad to find out what was so upsetting to Agents Barton and Romanoff at your meeting this afternoon. They are a part of your team, and it isn't good to have two assassins upset. And I like to look out for my friends." 

"She did go this way, Captain." Thor looked in, then called back over his shoulder. "It looks like she's joined Tony Stark and Dr. Banner in the lab tonight."

Steve Rogers joined Thor at the door. "Looks like nobody is sleeping tonight."

Tony sighed. "People, this isn't a campfire. It's officially a kumbaya-free zone, with no s'mores. As Fury just told me, go back to bed and go the fuck to sleep."

"You were talking to Fury? At this time of the night?" Steve pounced on Tony's slip. "Is there an emergency?"

"There's no emergency-" Tony started, annoyed as much with himself as with Rogers.

"Then it has to do with the meeting this afternoon," Thor interrupted. "You hide it well, but you were brooding after the meeting, and Lady Pepper had to threaten you with her displeasure before you would eat tonight. You aren't the sort to sit idly in ignorance while two of our teammates are in pain."

Mouth still open, Tony stared at Thor wordlessly. Finally, he managed, "Um..."

"I think you're right, Thor," Rogers said with a slight smile. "He's right, isn't he, Dr. Banner?"

"Yes," Bruce agreed reluctantly.

"Traitor," Tony growled.

"No, Tony," Pepper said, laying her hand on his shoulder as she stood behind him. "It's not just you who needs to know. Show us what you were able to get so far - we'll start with that."

Tony sighed, looking around at, he abruptly realized, a circle of friends. He looked away at the monitor, unwilling to examine this new phenomenon in his life. Files were easier, safer. He cleared his throat as he projected the data holographically over the table. "This is all the information I retrieved before Fury shut down the connection. Let's get started by pulling all the files with the name 'Duclos'." As he pushed the Lewis files to the side, four other folders obediently flashed green. 

"Duclos isn't an unusual name in French." Bruce reached in to gently tap each file. "Let's see, there's an Etienne, Monique, Stephane, and Georges. Do we have any idea if the Duclos we're searching for is a man or woman?"

"The Etienne file is from the seventies, and so is Stephane - probably way too old. The Georges file is very small, let me look... yep, was only in service for five years before quitting." Tony tossed the three eliminated files into the system trash. "That leaves Monique. Yes, this is the right person - this is one of Lewis' handwritten documents, see how her signature resembles the writing in the margins? Let's check for personal projects she has tinkered with on the side - the person who wrote those notes for Lewis can't be happy just running around out in the field."

"I think that one's labeled 'personal'," Steve pointed out hesitantly.

"You're right, Spangles," Tony said, reaching out to the files Steve was pointing at. "Aha, this is it. Look Bruce, she's been tweaking grenades. What a waste as a field agent - see, she has some interesting ideas on how to increase efficiency."

"Don't think that would work," Bruce said, pointing at one scribble.

"You're right," Tony said, thoughtfully frowning at the formula. He opened the Lewis files, scrolled through them to a certain section and pointed. "But think about what that Hydra guy did. Take the second premise Lewis was working on, and lift this little bit here to give it a boost..." 

Bruce and Tony slipped into full science mode as they debated the merits of the notes and formulas. Ignored, Thor, Steve and Pepper exchanged amused glances - Pepper rolled her eyes, making the other two grin. The three non-scientists waited patiently as Tony and Bruce babbled. Finally, Thor tired of waiting and carefully, hesitantly reached into the display, imitating Bruce as he reached towards the file labelled 'service record'. He paused at the last minute, unsure of himself... then jumped as Tony reached over without looking to gently grasp his wrist.

"...and when you take deflagration into account - good idea, Point Break, you and Captain Spangles check those out - it would stabilize everything..." Tony guided Thor's hand to the right position to 'grab' the file and then gently pushed him away to an unused corner of the table.

Carefully imitating Bruce again, Thor cautiously tapped the image. When it obediently opened, he grinned at Steve and Pepper, lookingso much like a little boy with a new toy that Pepper giggled. She and Steve moved to stand at either shoulder as he carefully scrolled through the information.

"It appears that Agent Duclos is part of a unit called 'Bravo Alpha team'," Steve said thoughtfully. "Most of her service is as part of that team." Thor tapped another link and the information floating over their part of the table quadrupled. "Seems like Tony got part of the service files for her unit as well as her own. I'll look through what we have of Agent Duclos' service record. Pepper, why don't you and Thor check through the files on the team?"

"Sure," Pepper said. "Obviously, none of us are going back to sleep soon. I'm sure we'll need the caffeine, so I'll reload the coffee maker first. And yes, I'll do it because the last time either of you made coffee Tony vibrated for days. Much safer if I do it." She retrieved the workshop coffee pot from its duty as paperweight for a stack of unsigned reports and cleared a stack of parts off the maker, grumbling about eccentric billionaires and their disregard for caffeinated technology despite consumption of gallons of said product.

Carefully imitating Thor, Steve opened the file labelled 'service record', and started to scan the information.

"There are six on her team," Thor observed. "They look...interesting."

Steve looked over at Thor's section. "They definitely look...quirky." A sad smile crossed his face as memory stirred. "Some of the best teams are quirky."

"Coffee will be ready in a minute," Pepper announced as she returned. "Is that her team?"

"Looks like she's been a member for five years," Steve said. 

"Interesting bunch," Pepper mused. "Ramirez is downright scary, and DeVries should have been a model."

"There's lots of commendations here," Thor said, "and many reprimands. Like many great warrior teams, they're not afraid to get into trouble."

"Troublemaking is common with a team like this," Steve said. "They wouldn't remain a unit with that many reprimands unless they were really good, and really good people can get… creative if they're bored." He turned back to the file in front of him. "In fact, that may explain a lot about Agent Duclos. There's chunks of information missing, but she's definitely good at what she does. It looks like that's how she got to know Dr. Lewis."

"What do you mean?" Thor asked.

"Her record says she was in college with him, and was his lab partner until she was expelled," Steve explained.

"Expelled?" Pepper asked, eyebrows raised.

"Says here she was the ringleader of a group of students who attached rockets to a professor's car to score a field goal. Which then blew up. She was already on notice for tinkering with the fireworks for the homecoming, so the school had no problem with expelling her despite excellent chemistry grades. Fortunately, a SHIELD agent was an alumni back for the homecoming, saw what she had done, and recruited her. After she was recruited, she suggested recruiting Dr. Lewis."

"And between missions, she must have visited her old friend Dr. Lewis and looked at what he was working on," Thor guessed.

"A partial list of their missions is in Commander D'Amato's file," Pepper said, pointing. "There's a brief summary of what happened, but," she reached into the projection to tap futilely at a highlighted area, "the linked files didn't make the download."

"Why are we checking their past missions?" Thor asked. "Don't we want to find out where Agent Duclos is now?"

"I want to know why Fury isn't allowing access, and why Agents Barton and Romanoff reacted the way they did," Pepper said, scanning down the list. "I wish these were complete. This is so frustrating when there's only partial information."

Steve said, "Each mission is identified by the location name, in chronological order. Cairo, Reykjavik, Mahajanga, Sydney, Kiev, Tbilisi, Bogota, Mwanza, Budapest, Abidjan, Tulsa…"

"Busy bunch," Pepper commented. She suddenly pointed. "Look, Agent Barton and Agent Romanoff definitely know them." She read aloud, "'Sydney: mission support for Agents Barton and Romanoff. Tulsa: joint operation with Agents Barton, Romanoff and Coulson. Bogota: agent extraction, Agents Barton and Romanoff. Budapest: agent extraction, Agents Barton, Romanoff and Coulson'." She huffed with frustration. "There's probably more that didn't make the download."

"What sort of progress can our intrepid trio report?" Steve, Pepper and Thor turned to see Tony and Bruce staring expectantly at them. "Bruce and I have decided that we definitely want to meet with the mysterious Agent Duclos, but there's no clues to her current whereabouts in her personal notes. Have you uncovered anything, or do I need to find another back door to SHIELD's data net?"

"Nothing yet," Thor said, "but we haven't gone through everything. Lady Pepper wanted to ascertain why mention of Agent Duclos had such an affect on our two team mates. Her team, Bravo Alpha, worked with our teammates on some missions-"

"Look, history can be interesting, but we really should just find the woman. Once we find her, we can ask her about all this-"

"Guys," Pepper said quietly. She clasped Tony's shoulder, silencing him mid-sentence. "Look at the dates."

"What do you mean?" Steve asked.

"Her last set of orders. The date of the last set of orders for the team." She pointed. "It says, 'Report to SHIELD helicarrier for mission briefing and preparation.' Look at all of their files: there are gaps all over the place, but they all end with that same order." She paused, then gently continued. "I think you all remember that day on the helicarrier quite well."

They all flinched.

_\- throwing aside debris, pushing massive turbine blades into motion, repulsers straining to keep him ahead of the massive blades and finally failing..._

_\- Romanoff pinned under debris from the explosion, eyes wide with pity and fear as she whispered "Bruce"..._

_\- holding on desperately to a cable as it whipped in the wind, climbing hand over hand back to the control panel while the world waited hundreds of feet below, wondering if the enemies were waiting there to shoot him..._

_\- pounding against glass, shouting, while his brother impaled a good man - a hero, a friend - from behind..._

Coulson wasn't the only loss suffered that day.

"Oh god, they were there," Bruce whispered. Steve quietly bowed his head, adding them to his list of the dead. Thor quietly recited an Asgardian blessing for their passage to Valhalla.

Tony was silent. Hill's frigid anger, Fury's brusque compassion, Barton's stiff, cold demeanor, Romanoff's dark, protective rage: all of the clues suddenly fit together as he realized the nature of the wound and the salt he had rubbed into it. 

 

**Two Days Later**

 

"Thank-you for lunch, Ms Potts," Maria Hill said to Pepper, sipping her tea appreciatively as she surveyed the private room of the most exclusive tea house in New York. "It was a pleasant surprise when you suggested it."

"I always find luncheon meetings pleasant," Pepper replied. "The contract revisions were something easily resolved, so I thought this would be a good opportunity for us to become unofficiallybetter acquainted, without either the formality of office protocols or the egos of Tony and Director Fury."

Hill nodded her agreement, even as she maintained a carefully neutral expression. "They do have their differences." 

Pepper leaned forward, snagged a cookie off a plate. "I heard that Tony may have caused some…difficulties the other day." She thoughtfully regarded the cookie as she carefully chose her words. "I would hate to think that his rash words and actions would jeopardize our business with SHIELD."

Hill narrowed her eyes in satisfaction at finally getting to the meat of the matter. "There was no damage done. Director Fury knows that Mr. Stark can become…over-zealous when he is focused on matters."

"And the others? I understand that Agents Barton and Romanoff were…agitated when they left the meeting," Pepper asked, before sipping her tea again.

"Agent Barton's current situation with SHIELD is difficult, both personally and professionally," Hill said carefully. "Agent Romanoff is protective and has her own difficulties. The entire personnel situation is complicated right now: reorganization is challenging, and there are staff members… not suited for working with Barton and Romanoff. Some of the key people they worked with are…no longer with us. Mr. Stark inadvertently reminded them of that fact." 

"I can only imagine the difficulties in dealing with the losses," Pepper said carefully. "It is hard for outsiders to truly comprehend the situation you and your people are coping with."

Maria raised an eyebrow and thoughtfully regarded her companion. "You understand I can't go into detail: even vague discussion is questionable."

"It's classified, I know," Pepper said with a rueful smile. "I realize that, despite my position with Stark Industries and relationship with Tony, there is a limit on how much I can be told. It just would be nice if I could understand more of the context." She poured more tea for both of them as Hill reflected on how much she could unofficially communicate. 

"SHIELD is not a true military organization - it's too unorthodox to fit that description," Hill began thoughtfully. "Barton and Romanoff, and the services they provide, are controversial, even for SHIELD. There are very few people, even within the organization, that associate with them. Agent Coulson… was their handler, worked closely with them both separately and together as a team, for years." To the casual bystander, Hill would have appeared relaxed as she paused to sip her tea. Pepper, with her years of experience at reading body language for contract negotiations, saw the tension, the slightest hint of a shake in the hand holding the cup. She was glad she hadn't tried to talk to either Barton or Romanoff. After a minute, Hill continued. "Besides Coulson, there were a few others that they worked with. One team in particular worked well with them, was often paired with them if a larger, joint operation was needed, or an extraction."

"Bravo Alpha," Pepper supplied.

"I see Mr. Stark's hacking incident was successful," Hill said, with a small frosty smile. "So, why are you asking me questions? He obviously retrieved the information he wanted."

"The files were incomplete. And there are some things that aren't included in personnel files," Pepper said earnestly. "The rest of us - not just Tony, but Steve, Bruce, Thor and I - want more. We are worried."

Hill nodded thoughtfully as she regarded Pepper through narrowed eyes. After a minute, she said, "I think I can safely say that the perception of Romanoff and Barton is that they are loners and very solitary. However, teamwork like they did with Coulson, Bravo Alpha and a few other individuals leads to a closeness, and even friendship. There aren't very many people on the list, but they do have friends." 

 "Fewer now than before Loki?" Pepper guessed shrewdly. 

Despite her considerable self-control, Hill flinched. When she finally spoke, every word was guardedly deliberate. "When Agent Barton… was involved in the assault on the helicarrier, there was substantial damage. I'm sure that Mr. Stark has told you that if he and the other members of his team hadn't been present, we would have lost the carrier. As it was, there was a significant loss of personnel in certain sectors." She paused again, carefully judging her words, skirting around the specifics that would dip into classified information.

"Obviously, some of the casualties were from the explosions,  the physical damage." Hill paused again, her face becoming a stoic mask. "The explosions weren't the cause of all the casualties. There was an assault team with Agent Barton when he boarded the carrier. They met resistance, not just from security personnel, but also some of the trained field operatives that happened to be aboard at the time." She picked up her teacup again to sip the cooling tea. Pepper carefully didn't pay attention to the flash of sorrow the cup didn't quite hide, or the clatter the cup made as a slightly trembling hand set it back on the saucer. "Some of the SHIELD casualties were shot in that conflict." Her voice cracked slightly. "Not all of them were shot with bullets."

Pepper looked down at her cup, unable to bear the pain in Hill's eyes. _Oh Tony_ , she thought. _Salt in the wound, indeed_.

 

**Two Weeks Later**

 

"Do you want us to come in with you?" Bruce asked, concerned.

"We're a team," Steve said. "You don't have to do this alone." Thor nodded in agreement, compassion on his face.

"No," Tony said, waving off their concern. "This is my mess. I'll deal with it."

Pepper smiled reassuringly and nodded, squeezing his hand. He took a deep breath as he gazed into her eyes, gathering his nerve. Releasing her hand, he reached down to pick up the duffle bag at his feet and turned to the doors to the shooting range. He looked back: Pepper stood where he had left her, her face serenely confident. Steve, Thor and Bruce stepped up beside her, offering their silent support. With another deep breath, he turned back to the doors, squared his shoulders, and entered the shooting range.

"Agent Barton, Agent Romanoff," Tony nodded stiffly as he carried the duffle bag onto the shooting range.

"Mr. Stark." Barton nodded uncomfortably as Romanoff silently watched. "About the other day..."

"Don't apologize," Tony said, ill at ease. "I get focused on projects and cause awkward situations all the time. If you don't believe me, just ask Pepper." 

Visibly bracing himself, he took a deep breath. "Please accept these as an apology for my tactlessness." Reaching into the bag, he pulled out some arrows and small disks. "Banner and I have come up with new toys for the two of you, some interesting new micro explosives. You'll want to test these outside, kids." He gestured uneasily as he prattled, not giving either of them an opportunity to speak. "I know, I know, I'm officially out of the weapons manufacturing business, but toys for my favourite ninjas are an exception." He picked up an arrow and waved it about. "The arrows are rather obvious, I'm sure. These little babies," he used the arrow to point at the disks, "are in various sizes intended for blowing locks, tires and fuel tanks, and can likely be used for lots of other things that people like you would think of that I'll never want to know about." He suddenly realized that he was waving around a razor sharp pointy object and set the arrow back down awkwardly. "Oh, and we think we may have some explosive bullets ready to add to this new line. I'll be able to let you know about that in another week or so."

"Thank-you," Romanoff said carefully, watching him closely.

"Yeah, thanks a lot," Barton said, warily picking up one of the arrows. "These look great. We'll check them out."

Tony uncomfortably brushed off their gratitude. "Least we could do. Want to keep our resident ninjas happy." He turned to leave, paused in the door. "Let us know how well they work and if you want more." He fumbled for words as they watched, then blurted it out. "I decided when I named this line to pay tribute to some heroes I found out about a little while ago. I'm calling it the Bravo line - these particular ones are what we're calling the Duclos variant."

He forever maintained later that he didn't see Barton's face pale before his head bowed, or see Romanoff bite her lip. He most definitely didn't see Romanoff place a hesitant hand on her partner's shoulder, or Barton's hand reach up to clasp hers in shared memory and sorrow for lost comrades.

 


End file.
